Step-ladder



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

M. GROISSANT.

STEP LADDER.

No. 464,495. Patented Dec. 8, 1891.

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(No Modem y 2 Sheets-sheen 2.

M. GROI'SSANT. STEP LADDER.

No. 464,495. Patented Deo. 8, 1891.

lllllllllllllilllllllllllll IIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIII 1 Nrrnn STATES MARTINCROISS'AN'I, OF ALBANY, NEV YORK.

STEP-LADDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 464,495, dated December8, 1891.

Application lecl April 3, 189].. Serial No. 387,513. .(No model.) i

To all whom it may concern: Y.

Be it known that I, MARTIN CRoIssANr, a citizen of the United States,residing at Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Step-Ladder Carriers andTheir Vays and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in step-ladders and their ways formoving` the former at will in front of a case of shelves for access tothe same from the steps of said ladder; and it consists of thecombinations of devices hereinafter described, and specifically setforth in the claims.

The object of this invention is to provide, first, with a carrying-railsupported neighboring the face of a case of shelves or racks for holdingarticles, and a carriage holding with said rail and movable'at will onthe same, a step -ladder which has its upper end suspended while itsbody is set at an incline and its foot end is supported by the floor andis movable relatively thereto; and, second, to provide between astep-ladder and a carriage which is movable on a rail supportedrelatively in front of a case of shelves or racks a swivel form ofconnecting device, which will allow the body of the step-ladder to beturned transversely or to opposite situation without necessitating ashifting of the carriage, and, further, to provide particularcombinations of devices by which my improvements may be readily embodiedin railway step-ladders. I attain these objects bythe means illustratedin the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, inwhich- Figure l is an elevation illustrating a case of shelves, acarrying-rail supported in front of the same, and a ladder having itsupper end suspended from said rail by means of one part of myimprovement and its lower end supported and carried by another part ofmy improvements used in this invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation insection and illustrating the same features. Fig. 3 is a plan view of thesame. Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the carrying-rail, carriage,and connecting device between the said carriage and the stepladder. Fig.5is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 6 is a view of the same at lineee', Fig. 4. Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the mechanism for supportingand guiding the' lower end of the step-ladder.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts throughout theseveral views.

In the drawings, A A represent a case of shelves or racks extending fromnear the iioor to near the ceiling and running from one side or end of aroom to near the other. The drawing Fig. 3 represents this case ofshelves to be of angular form in its plan view and running in linescorresponding with the outer lines of the limbs of the angle;` yet theymay' l ported relatively in front of the face of the case A of shelvesand at a short dist-ance from the same, and at any suitable distancebelow the plane of the ceiling of the room. This rail may be made withany form which will adapt a continuous portion thereof to operate as atrack or way for a carriage to move freely thereon from one end thereofto the other; yet, for cheapness of construction, strength,andconvenience for its attachment to brackets for supporting the railrelatively in front of the case of the shelves, I prefer to make it withthe form (in its cross area) of an inverted T, as shown, in which formof carrying-rail the laterally-extended limbs a a, integral with the webb, form the tracks or ways on which the carriage employed may freelymove, while the vertical extension of the web portion b from saidlaterallyextended ways ct a or limbs operates to give the rail greatstiffness in a vertical direction, and also serves as a means forconvenient attachment by rivets c or bolts to the brackets C C, by whichthe rail is shown to be supported from the ceiling. Although thiscarrying-rail may be run in a straight line in its entire length, yet itcan be made to run in lines part straight and part curved, accordinglyas may be required IOO fora suitable coriespondence with the line of theface or faces of the case or cases of shelves to which access is to behad from the step-ladder used with the saine; but when these cases ofshelves in arooin are arranged at angles as shown, or as above describedthey inay be set, and a single continuous rail B is employed, it will bemade in its plan View to correspond with the angle of the faces of thecases of shelves this rail is to be used with, andas illustrated in Fig.3, so that after a portion thereof is arranged straight and parallelwith the face of one of the cases it will curve or bend and then runstraight and parallel with the face of the contiguous or neighboring; orother case which may be at an angle to the first-nientioned case.Mounted on the said carrying-rail is a suitable carriage, which is freeto be moved in either direction on the tracksor ways integral with saidrail. Although this carriage may be provided with wheels or rollersrevolving in contact with said track or tracks, yet I prefer to omit theuse of such rollers or wheels when the traveling stepladder to be usedwith it is of light weight, as it may be in mostcases.

My preferred form of carriage D, having neither wheels nor rollers, isshown in its essential features in the drawings, Figs. 4, 5, and 6; andit consists of a metal piece made in the form of a slotted tube of anysuitable form and preferably of rectangular forin inits cross area, asshown in Figs. l and 4, with the slot d in its upper side about centralbetween the oppositely-located angular portions e e,

made integral with the side portions e of said carriage. This tube forniof carriage D is made with a length of from two to four inches and hasits slot d made with a width a little greater than the thickness of theweb l of the carrying-rail B, and the width of thel chamber between theside portions e e is a little greater than the width of the two angu`lar ways a a between their outer edges, so that the said carriage may befree to move without binding on the portions of the rail B in contactwhen turning a curve, as at occ-urring in said rail.

E is a step-ladder made of wood or metal or both combined and with anysuitable form of construction and comprising a series of` steps m m,conveniently arranged and secured to the side `rails nn. VThisstep-ladder is suspended by its upper end from the carriage DQ while itsbody is at an incline, with its lower end supported from the floor. Themeans for this suspension of the ladder by its upper end portion fromthe carriage D may consist simply of astiif bar or link rigidlyconnected with both the carriage and the upper ends or the side rails ofthe ladder or upper step of saine; yet I prefer to make this connectingdevice Fin the form of a swivel, in which one of its parts-as say, theswivel-pin f-is rigidly secured to the carriage D by riveting orotherwise, while the swivel-link` ,is secured to any suitable piece f',securely attached toV the upper step of the ladder. A reversal of theseparts of the swivel in their connections with the carriage and ladderwould be in etfect the same. Byprovidi'ng this connecting device F witha swivel, which will occur be tween the ladder and carriage, the body ofthe ladder can be readily changed in its relative situation or directionof its incline from the carriage D, so that the said ladder ca n at willbe in situation in relation to said carriage as shown by full lines inFig. 3 or its body be turned and be in situation indicated by dottedlines in said figure. This suspended step-ladder may have its foot enddirectly supported by the floor, especially when the ladder is light inweight; yet in many cases preference is given to the use of wheels orrollers suitably applied to the footA ends of` the side rails n n, so asto sustain the saine and render the movement of the ladder nioreeasy toan operator. The wheels or rollers einployed may be made to be incasterform of construction and connection with theladder; yet preferenceis given to the use of a shaft G, suitablyheld in bearings seciiredtothe side rails n n and wheels ll I-l, mounted thereon. These wheels arepreferably provided with rubber tires or faces h to render their rollingover the iioor noiseless. AIn cases where heavy ladders are employed orwhere a careless use of the same is liable to be had I i secure to theshaft G a guide-wheel I and to the floor a way or guide-track J, whichco-.operate together to hold the foot end of thestep-ladder fromshifting laterally in either direction. This guide-wheel may be placedat any siiitable point on shaft G, and the track J will be located tocorrespond. Although tlieguidctrack can project above the surface-of theiioor, yet preference is given to one sunken in the saine, so that itstop surface will be on a plane with that of the Iioor, and when it ismade with a longitudinal groove j, 4asshown in Fig. 7, theguide-Wheel 'Iis made with a diameter, say, about one-half of an inch (more or less)greater than `that of the wheels .Il 1I and with a width of outerportiona little less than the width of thegroove j in theguidetrack J,soVas to freely move within said groove without binding. This formofguidetrack is advantageous over one that projects above the plane ofthe upper surface of the floor, as it forms no obstruction forthepassage of store or hand ,trucks or movement of boxes or packagesover the floor, is not in the way of the feet of employs or others, andcan be easily kept clear by means of sweeping with a broom in directionof the groove j of said guide-track.

By my abovedescribed improvements `a step-ladder can be suspendedneighboring to and relatively in front of a case or cases of shelves,whether running horizontally, straight, or at angles, or in curveddirections, and be readily moved by an operator taking hold of theladder or handles s, securcdto the same, in either direction to bringthe saine IIO opposite the particular shelves or racks to which it isdesirable access be had from the ladder, and the ladder can be readilyturned in any direction and be moved at will into situations before acase of shelves, as required, in a noiseless manner.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, 1s-

1. The combination, with a carrying-rail supported neighboring the upperportion of the face side ot' a case of shelves and a carriage mounted onsaid rail and capable of being freely moved thereon in either direction,of a step-ladder, a swivel-jointed connection between the latter andsaid carriage, carrying Wheels or rollers and a guide-Wheel secured tothe foot end of the ladder, and a guidetrack secured-to the iloor, forthe'purposes set forth.

2. The combination, with the carrying-rail B, made in the form of aninverted-T rail,' the tubular form of carriage D, having in its upperside the longitudinal slot d, receiving the Web b of said rail, and theangular porz 5 tions e e, riding on the laterally-extended limbs ct a ofthe same, of a step-ladder suspended by its upper end portion from saidcarriage, with its foot end supported by the floor, for the purposes setforth.

3. The combination, with a step-ladder which is suspended from anoverhead carrying-rail by means of a carriage capable Iof being moved ineither direction thereon, of carrying-Wheels and a guide-wheel mountedon a shaft secu red to the foot end of the ladder, and a guideway ortrack having in ita slot running longitudinally and secured in the floorHush with the top surface of the same, for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the invention above set forth I affix mysignature in presence of two witnesses.

MARTIN CROISSANT.

l/Vitnesses:

WILLIAM BANIER, ALEX. SELKIRK. ft

